Films that have plots that influenced Dark Shadows

[CyrusL]

Which of these films that influenced Dark Shadows storylines do you enjoy the most?

My qualification for this list was for films other than those horror standards, most especially literary adaptions. Instead, I wanted to look at those where a particular unique plot point was "borrowed" or otherwise had a big influence on Dark Shadows. Therefore, no straightforward adaptions of Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Turn of the Screw etc. For similar reasons, I did not include films made from short stories, such as by Poe or Lovecraft. I did chose films where a significant plot twist was introduced, not in the original story. (This on the two Dracula movies) I also eliminated The Wolfman, because while it had a big influence on Dark Shadows, it was harder to pin the specific plot point, unlike Werewolf of London . Feel free of course to discuss any films I may have missed. I was rather inspired by the recent discussion of Lugosi's Return of the Vampire of late, and how the mausoleum used was so similar to the Collins mausoleum.

Most of all, HAVE FUN!        

For those unfamiliar with any of these films, here's some briefs on how they influenced DS:

House of Dracula (1945) : Count Dracula seeks out a scientist who can treat vampirism as a blood disease.

Return of Dracula (1958) : A vampire arrives from  and insinuates himself on the family as a lost relative from Europe.

The Mummy (1932) : Risen from the grave, a walking corpse of a man obsesses on a woman who is the reincarnation of his great lost love.

The Thing That Could Not Die (1958):  A powerful warlock's head is found in a box and it takes possession of the living to help him find his lost body.

The Undead (1957) : A woman makes a mysterious journey into the past where she is framed for black magic by a jealous witch. After returning to the present, no one believes her.

The Uninvited (1944) : A brother and sister live in a great mansion on a cliffside by the sea. They are haunted by  mysterious and sad female ghost who's presence is felt by the scent of lilacs.

Werewolf of London (1935) : A werewolf hopes to find a cure by seeking the mysterious moon poppy.


Happy Halloween!!!!   

Michael 

[Zahir]

I'm going with "The Mummy" because that was such a pervasive idea in the series, one that really had no antecedent save with that film.  "Dracula's Daughter" involved at attempt to cure vampirism, as if it were a disease, and that predates "House of Dracula."

[ProfStokes]

Great poll idea, Cyrus!  I was torn between The Uninvited, which I consider to be the best haunted house movie ever, and Werewolf of London, one of the rare complex Universal Monster movies with subtle interpersonal drama as well as monster action.  You have to love the Tibet setting too.  I never heard of The Undead, but your description has piqued my interest so I will certainly make an effort to track it down.

The Uninvited (1944) : A brother and sister live in a great mansion on a cliffside by the sea. They are haunted by  mysterious and sad female ghost who's presence is felt by the scent of lilacs.

Actually, it was mimosa.   

ProfStokes

[MsCriseyde]

The Uninvited (1944) : A brother and sister live in a great mansion on a cliffside by the sea. They are haunted by  mysterious and sad female ghost who's presence is felt by the scent of lilacs.

Actually, it was mimosa.

Drink enough of them and it could happen to anyone. 

[retzev]

I had to vote for THE UNDEAD,  just because it seems to be remebered by so few. Very cool little shoe-string budget picture with great atmosphere. I think I read somewhere that a large portion of it was shot in an old abandoned supermarket  I rented a semi-legit VHS of it about 10 years ago and loved it, if it's ever released on DVD I'll snatch it up in a heartbeat!

[Charles_Ellis]

There is one film that had a major lasting influence on later DS strorylines, and I'm surprised no one has thought of this idea before!  The film is one the DS writers probably saw during its original release in 1958: Vertigo!  The whole bit about Barnabas trying to recreate Josette by molding Maggie Evans in the image of his lost love is a definite homage to the Hitchcock classic.  Substitute Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak with Jonathan Frid and KLS and you'll get the point.  Barnabas was always trying to find a new Josette for most of the show's run: Maggie, Vicki, Rachel, Lady Kitty- it's amazing he stopped when Roxanne entered the picture. 

[Patti Feinberg]

I too had never heard of "The Undead", so I went to imdb.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051128/

(I think the description of the film will prove very entertaining.)

Cyrus,,,you didn't mention it was a ROGER CORMAN film!!!

The correlation of the woman used by Count Petofi seems terrific!!

I can't tell from imbd if it's for sale, I tried Amazon (and if I saw it, would have bought it THROUGH MSCRYSEDE'S SITE) I do not know why I can never get her name right :- 

Patti

[MagnusTrask]

I'm very unversed in horror films, maybe because it all got so bloody just when I reached independent movie-going age.   And it took a decade or two until I developed a sense of irony or something, about the absurdity of the gore. 

[Brandon Collins]

I keep trying to think of a movie that might have influenced DS. But gosh darn it, I just wasn't alive before DS, during DS, or even right after DS. So that pretty much disqualifies me from this category. The best thing I can think of is those classical Universal movies--Dracula, The Mummy, Wolfman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, et al.

[MsCriseyde]

I keep trying to think of a movie that might have influenced DS. But gosh darn it, I just wasn't alive before DS, during DS, or even right after DS. So that pretty much disqualifies me from this category.

That's not much of an excuse.  Your qualifications have less to do with age than with your familiarity with movies.

There is one film that had a major lasting influence on later DS strorylines, and I'm surprised no one has thought of this idea before!  The film is one the DS writers probably saw during its original release in 1958: Vertigo!  The whole bit about Barnabas trying to recreate Josette by molding Maggie Evans in the image of his lost love is a definite homage to the Hitchcock classic.  Substitute Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak with Jonathan Frid and KLS and you'll get the point.  Barnabas was always trying to find a new Josette for most of the show's run: Maggie, Vicki, Rachel, Lady Kitty- it's amazing he stopped when Roxanne entered the picture.

It's been thought of before.  I used Vertigo a few years ago in my freshman English class, and I remember having discussions with my DS friends at the time about the similarities. I didn't post about it here because I can't remember a lot of the specifics from the film, and, frankly, it was such a rotten teaching experience that I probably blocked it purposely. Unfortunately, the typical freshman can't seem to deal with the deliberately slow pacing of portions of the film.

Another DS connection here . . . Kim Novak appeared on Falcon Crest with David Selby as a character pretending to be someone she wasn't, someone who was dead. There were several references to her Vertigo role, including a scene shot in front of the Golden Gate bridge.

[Charles_Ellis]

Well, what can I say?  Great minds think alike, LOL!

[CyrusL]

In reference to The Undead, I do wish to mention it IS the one thing I hate when said about Dark Shadows, which is...campy. That said I like The Undead. It is pre-Poe films Corman, so it has some very tongue in cheek humor, a Satan character somewhat in the Nicholas Blair melieu, and Billy Barty as an evil dwarf. It does have some nice sets on a budget, and a classic poster. I just wanted to make note of this so no one who hasn't seen it get expectations for it being something other than what it is, a low budget horror with comic touches. I had never made the connection until about 2 years ago I read an article in a old issue of Castle of Frankensetein when then writer now director Joe Dante noted the connection.
      I do want to say "The Reurn of Dracula" with Frances Lederer i feel is worth searching out. It was one of the last B&W "B-films" of Dracula just prior to the Hammer reinvention.  (I say B&W, but there is a little surprise is restored prints.)  I might say its the most underrated on the list.
      Nice arguement for Vertigo being on the list Charles. 

Michael 

[Gothick]

I think the motif of the Peter and Vicki love story across the centuries may have been inspired by a movie I've never seen with Leslie Howard called Berkeley Square, from the early 1930s.  I don't think it is available in any format, however.

Berkeley Square has the distinction of having been H. P. Lovecraft's favorite film, as well.  (His most deeply cherished desire was to live in the 18th century.)

I know I've posted about this before...

G.

[CastleBee]

I keep trying to think of a movie that might have influenced DS. But gosh darn it, I just wasn't alive before DS, during DS, or even right after DS. So that pretty much disqualifies me from this category.

That's not much of an excuse.  Your qualifications have less to do with age than with your familiarity with movies.

Yes, I was just thinking well, hey, I wasn't alive in 1940 when Rebecca was released either but, I was enough of a movie buff growing up that it was easy to see the similarities.   Like DS at its best I think of this film as more of a gothic romance than actual horror. Still as MagnusTrask mentioned - things have changed and horror started to mean something else as time went by.

[Philippe Cordier]

I remember your referring to "Berkeley Square," Gothick, and I was intrigued enough by your comment to look into it.  You're right that the film is not available in any format, more's the pity.  Nor was it in the film archive where I was working either, though there was a photo file for it so I was lucky to see photo stills, and I found photos from the Broadway production, too (also with Leslie Howard).  The movie was later remade as "I'll Never Forget You," also known as "The House in the Square," also not available in any format.  Not sure if you've read the play, but it is available either from Dramatists Play Service or Samuel French, I forget which (both have websites).  The 1795 DS storyline does share some general ideas with the play, though I'm not sure how direct an influence it would have been.  As I recall, a young aristocratic man is obsessed with the past and with his ancestry, is transported to the 18th century, where he replaces his own ancestor living at that time.  He falls in love with the sister of the woman he is supposed to marry, as I recall, and is disillusioned by the crudity and cruelty of the era and returns to his own time; the final scene indicates that he never forgot his love there.  John Balderston, the play's author, based the story on an unfinished late work of Henry James, which I have looked at and can't comment on other than that the prose is nearly impenetrable as James' later prose became, and James only wrote up to the point where his protagonist goes back into the past.  It would be interested to speculate that Henry James was the influence behind the 1795 storyline!  In turn, I wonder where James would have come up with this idea of time travel, which isn't the sort of topic one normally associates with him.  Knowing that James was an admirer and friend of H.G. Wells makes me wonder if he was influenced by something Wells might have written on time travel.

Interesting that H.P. Lovecraft was a fan of the movie.  I've read three or four early Lovecraft stories now after first learning of him on this forum a few years ago.  I know you've written about Lovecraft's influence on the Leviathan storyline, but don't recall which works that might have been.  Would also be curious whether Lovecraft's affection for "Berkeley Square" influenced anything he wrote ... but I'm getting off-topic ...

-Vlad